I 


» 

& 


\ 


D.  Fanshaw,  Printer, 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THE  AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY, 

150  Nassau-strcet,  New-York. 


AN  APPEAL 


CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS 


BEHALF  OF  THE  HEATHEN, 


r 


AN  APPEAL 


TO 

CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS 


IN 

» 

% 

BEHALF  OF  THE  HEATHEN. 


BY  REV.  JOHN  SCUDDER,  M.  D. 

Missionary  in  India. 


“  The  child  is  father  of  the  man.’* 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY, 


150  NASSAU-STREET,  NEW-YORK. 


D.  Fanchaw,  Printer. 


' 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Pa^e. 


Inadequacy  of  the  means  now  employed  for  the 

conversion  of  the  world . 5 


CHAPTER  II. 

Necessity  of  Maternal  Influence,  . 


8 


CHAPTER  III. 

Power  of  Maternal  Influence,  . 


.  11 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Miseries  of  the  Heathen, 


17 


CHAPTER  V. 


Degradation  of  Heathen  F emales, 


.  28 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Condition  of  Christian  Females  contrasted  with 

that  of  the  Heathen, . 40 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Means  to  be  used  by  Christian  Mothers,  • 


50 


- 


. 


' 


:  '  ■ 


' 


AN  APPEAL 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 

>  ■.  I- 

CHAPTER  I. 

Inadequacy  of  the  means  now  employed  for  the 
conversion  of  the  world . 

-X- 

Christian  Mothers — Were  the  great 
mass  of  human  beings  who  are  ignorant  of 
the  only  true  God,  and  of  Jesus  Christ  whom 
he  has  sent,  collected  together,  and  placed 
as  near  to  each  other  as  they  could  conve¬ 
niently  stand  and  move,  they  would  form  a 
phalanx  a  mile  in  breadth  and  more  than  a 
hundred  miles  in  length.  Phalanx  after  pha¬ 
lanx  of  this  description  has  entered  eternity 
since  Christ  lifted  up  his  voice  and  said  “  It 
is  finished,”  and  the  astounding  cry  comes 
up  to  us,  that  forty  thousand  millions  of  them 
have,  since  that  period,  been  added  to  the 
congregation  of  the  dead. 

One  would  suppose  that  Christ  had  never 
given  the  command  to  send  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature,  and  if  this  command  were 

1* 


G 


AN  APPEAL 


not  found  on  the  page  of  inspiration,  would 
be  ready  to  deny  that  it  had  ever  been  given. 
Who  could  believe  that  the  church,  with  her 
solemn  vows  upon  her,  would  have  allowed 
forty  thousand  millions  of  her  fellow-beings 
to  pass  from  the  stage  of  life  with  so  little 
effort  on  her  part  to  evangelize  them  ?  I  say 
so  little  effort ;  for  now  and  then  some  de¬ 
gree  of  effort  has  been  put  forth.  This  was 
the  case  in  the  early  periods  of  Christianity. 
It  is  the  case  to  some  extent  now.  A  few  of 
the  followers  of  the  Redeemer  have  awaked 
from  their  slumbers,  and  begun  to  think  that, 
with  the  aid  which  is  promised  from  on  high, 
they  have  before  them  a  world  to  be  con¬ 
verted.  But  these  instances  are  compara¬ 
tively  rare.  The  great  majority  of  Christians 
have  not  learned  to  act  upon  the  high  and 
ennobling  principles  of  the  Gospel.  There  is 
but  here  and  there  one,  “who  by  his  ago¬ 
nizing  prayers,  active  efforts  and  benevolent 
charities,  throws  himself  into  the  mighty 
work  of  converting  the  world.” 

O 

Many  do  not  seem  to  understand  what  it 
is  to  live  for  Christ.  They  practice  but  little 
or  no  self-denial  in  his  service.  They  in¬ 
dulge  themselves  and  lay  up  money,  even  it 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


7 


is  to  be  feared,  in  many  instances,  for  the 
ruin  of  their  children,  instead  of  sacrificing 
their  pleasures  and  dedicating  their  children 
and  their  substance  for  the  promotion  of  the 
Gospel.  Most  of  our  pious  young  men  shun 
the  ranks  of  the  ministry.  Millions  of  the 
heathen  are  going  down  to  the  grave  every 
year,  without  having  heard  that  there  is  a 
Savior  ;  but  these  young  men  cannot  be  per¬ 
suaded  to  give  up  their  farms,  or  their  mer¬ 
chandize,  or  their  law,  or  their  medicine, 
that  they  may  bear  the  tidings  of  his  name 
to  their  shores.  That  which  chimes  with 
their  inclination  is  made  out  to  be  their  duty. 
They  turn  away  in  whole  companies,  pro¬ 
fessing  but  not  bearing  the  cross.  They  bow 
their  knees  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  pray, 
“  Thy  kingdom  come,”  while  at  the  same 
moment  they  refuse  to  do  any  thing  person¬ 
ally  by  which  that  kingdom  may  come.  They 
stretch  forth  their  hands,  while  they  keep 
back  part  of  the  price.  The  sufferings  of  the 
Son  of  God — the  joys  of  heaven — the  tor 
ments  of  hell — the  solemnities  of  their  dying 
bed,  and  the  realities  of  the  judgment  day 
are  urged,  but  urged  in  vain,  to  induce  them 
to  do  differently.  The  sapling  has  grown 


8 


AN  APPEAL 


into  a  tree,  and  every  effort  to  bend  it  is 
useless. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Necessity  of  Maternal  Influence. 

We  have  seen  that  the  means  now  employ¬ 
ed  are  inadequate  for  the  world’s  conver¬ 
sion  ;  and  such,  we  have  reason  to  fear,  will 
continue  to  be  the  state  of  things  until  the 
church  is  blessed  with  a  different  race  of 
mothers — a  race  of  mothers  who  will  con¬ 
nect  the  subject  of  their  infant  sons  entering 
the  ministry,  as  they  shall  be  called  of  God, 
with  the  subject  of  their  conversion — who, 
while  dandling  them  upon  their  knees,  and 
rehearsing  to  them  the  history  of  the  suffer¬ 
ings  and  death  of  Christ,  and  while  urging 
upon  them  the  importance  of  their  dedicating 
themselves  to  him,  will,  at  the  same  time, 
tell  them  the  history  of  our  ruined  race,  and 
endeavor  to  impress  them  with  a  sense  of 
their  obligations  to  enter  the  Gospel  ministry, 
provided  God  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  qualify 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


9 


them  for  this  momentous  work.  Mighty  in¬ 
strumentalities  are  needed  for  the  conversion 
of  the  world,  and  as  they  are  not  now  to  be 
found  in  the  church  of  God,  we  must  look 
for  the  required  help  from  those  who  are  at 
present  in  the  nursery.  To  the  coming  gene 
ration  our  eyes  turn  with  intense  interest.  It 
must  be  trained  in  habits  differing  from  those 
which  chain  their  fathers  to  earthly  things. 
It  must  be  fashioned  to  a  new  standard.  The 
missionary  spirit  must  be  infused  into  the 
heart  of  the  rising  generation  while  it  is  in 
its  infancy,  and  the  impression  must  be  made 
now.  The  hope  of  the  church  in  our  own 
land  and  the  world  rests,  in  a  great  degree, 
under  God,  on  the  infant  sons  and  daughters 
of  pious  mothers. 

Christian  mothers,  our  hearts  are  sick  and 
faint  with  the  burden  of  perishing  millions. 
We  look  over  the  moral  landscape,  and  our 
eyes  are  wearied  with  the  dreariness  of  the 
prospect.  We  look  to  you,  and  hope  again 
beams  upon  us.  We  look  to  you  as  God’s 
agents  not  only  in  training  laborers  for  our 
own  land,  but  in  training  missionaries  for 
the  whole  world.  The  hearts  of  the  coming 
generation  are,  in  an  important  sense,  in  your 


10 


AN  APPEAL 


hands — taking  shape  from  your  tuition.  In 
the  cradles  you  rock,  lie  infolded  the  hopes 
of  christless  nations.  As  the  potter  shapes 
the  clay,  so  should  you  endeavor,  under 
God,  to  shape  the  heart  of  the  generation 
which  is  now  growing  up,  that  it  may  be- 
ome  a  missionary  generation.  A  great  re¬ 
sponsibility  in  reference  to  raising  up  minis¬ 
ters  of  the  Gospel  devolves  upon  you.  Would 
that  I  could  convince  you  of  this  truth. 
W ould  that  I  could  awaken  in  you  emotions 
corresponding  in  sotne  degree  with  the  im¬ 
portance  of  it,  and  lead  you  to  such  action 
as  may,  through  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  result  in  inducing  your  sons  to  be¬ 
come  ambassadors  of  the  cross.  Could  I  but 
do  this,  I  doubt  not  that  distant  heathen  con¬ 
tinents  would,  in  coming  days,  murmur  their 
deep  thankfulness  to  you,  and  the  isles  of 
the  sea  would  clap  their  hands  with  joy. 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


11 


CHAPTER  III. 


Power  of  Maternal  Influence . 

In  addressing  vou  on  the  momentous  sub- 

O  j 

ject  of  training  your  infant  son,  I  invite  you 
to  consider  that  you  have  the  strongest  rea¬ 
son  to  believe  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  Holy 

Spirit,  YOUR  EFFORTS  WILL  BE  SUCCESSFUL. 

That  you  may  be  convinced  of  this,  I  ask 
your  attention  to  the  following  considerations. 

1.  Your  child  receives  its  first  impressions 
from  you.  In  the  light  of  your  countenance 
it  catches  its  earliest  thoughts.  Your  eye  and. 
voice  and  your  caresses  awaken  the  first  ex¬ 
ercises  of  its  mind,  and  beget  the  first  emo¬ 
tions  in  its  heart.  Whatever  be  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  these  emotions,  good  or  bad,  ennobling 
or  grovelling,  it  drinks  them  in  from  you.  It 
watches  you  with  instinctive  affection,  and 
as  its  susceptible  heart  yearns  toward  you, 
it  receives  the  impress  of  that  which  you  put 
upon  it.  The  chords  of  its  soul  vibrate  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  manner  in  which  vou  touch 
them.  Its  heart  is  like  a  soil  that  has  never 
been  occupied,  where  as  yet  no  plough  has 


12 


AN  APPEAL 


traced  any  line  and  no  harvest  has  ever 
waved  to  the  breeze. 

2.  These  first  impressions  are  also  the 
strongest  and  most  enduring.  Some  soft  sub¬ 
stances  grow  hard  when  exposed  to  the  air. 
So  the  heart  becomes  hard  as  it  is  exposed 
to  the  world.  The  impression  which  is  made 
on  the  soft  infantile  heart  goes  down  into  its 
depths,  and  there  it  lies,  and  lives,  though 
the  surface  becomes  hard.  Such  an  impres¬ 
sion  is  stronger  than  any  which  is  made  af¬ 
terwards,  when  it  has  acquired  a  power  of 
resistance,  a  hardness  that  it  had  not  be¬ 
fore.  And  it  is  the  most  enduring;  for  while 
other  impressions  made  on  the  hard  surface, 
one  after  another,  are  effaced  by  attrition, 
this  lying  lowest,  towards  the  centre,  is  the 
last  to  be  reached.  And  when  old  age  has 
wasted  away  the  outer  coatings  of  the  soul, 
while  there  is  a  core  of  a  heart  yet  left,  that 
impression  will  be  found  like  a  bright  seed 
in  its  cells.  Facts  will  show  this.  Mental, 
philosophers  testify  to  its  truth. 

A  case  or  two  in  point  may  be  mentioned. 
An  old  man  who  had  passed  into  his  second 
childhood  was  stretched  upon  his  dying  bed, 
a  picture  of  impaired  faculties,  a  mind  in 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


13 


ruins.  While  his  friends  stood  by  his  bed¬ 
side  he  opened  his  lips  and  rudely  uttered 
a  couplet  from  a  foolish  nursery  song.  On 
inquiry  it  was  found  that  the  nurse  who  had 
borne  him  in  her  arms  had  taught  him  this 
worthless  ditty.  The  first  thing  learned  was 
the  last  to  be  forgotten.  A  gentleman  not 
long  since  told  me,  that  he  has  a  very  aged 
father,  whose  faculties  are  so  much  impair¬ 
ed  that  he  cannot  remember  the  occurrences 
of  yesterday,  but  still  he  can  readily  repeat 
the  hymns  which  he  learned  in  infancy. 

3.  These  early  impressions  which  you 
make,  shape  your  child’’ s  course  in  life.  Those 
things  which  are  uppermost  in  your  own 
breasts  will  be  also  uppermost  in  your  con¬ 
duct,  and  will  make  the  first  impressions  on 
its  heart.  There  is  a  oneness  between  you, 
which  resembles  that  between  the  branch 
and  the  vine,  and  the  same  kind  of  sap  will 
be  in  the  offshoot  as  is  found  in  the  trunk. 
The  ideas  which  your  child  receives  from 
you,  with  regard  to  the  relative  importance 
to  be  attached  to  different  things,  will  gene¬ 
rally  retain  their  influence  even  to  its  death, 
shaping  and  modifying  its  course  at  every 
step  of  its  existence.  Locke  asserts,  and 


14 


AN  APPEAL 


doubtless  there  is  much  truth  in  the  asser¬ 
tion,  that  a  child  learns  more  by  the  time  it 
is  four  years  old  than  during  all  the  other 
periods  of  its  life.  During  these  four  years 
then,  while  your  child  continues  to  be  al¬ 
most  a  part  of  yourself,  you  impart  to  it  much 
of  your  own  spirit,  your  own  ideas  of  that 
which  you  consider  to  be  most  valuable, 
most  to  be  sought  after  in  the  present  world. 
And  these  ideas  imparted  by  you  must  un¬ 
questionably  have  an  influence  in  determin¬ 
ing  the  spirit  and  the  ruling  desires  of  its 
future  life.  You  may  at  this  early  age  make 
impressions  respecting  dress,  equipage,  or 
the  gratification  of  any  appetite,  which  will 
stamp  its  character.  A  mother  who  has  a 
martial  or  peaceful,  a  money-grasping  or  li¬ 
beral,  a  jealous  and  suspicious  or  frank  spi¬ 
rit,  may  impart  to  her  infant  this  same  spirit, 
and  give  complexion  to  all  its  plans  and  stri¬ 
vings  on  the  stage  of  life. 

44  The  most  likely  and  hopeful  reformation 
of  the  world,”  says  Archbishop  Tillotson, 
44  must  commence  with  children.”  What 
truth  or  force  can  there  be  in  this  remark,  if 
what  I  have  said  in  regard  to  early  impres¬ 
sions  be  untrue  ?  It  is  a  truth — a  philosoph- 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


15 


ical  truth — a  most  solemn  and  awful  truth. 
Mothers,  the  hearts  of  your  children  love 
you  and  trust  you,  as  a  man  trusts  God.  No 
one  interposes  between  you  and  them  to 
prevent  your  making  what  impression  you 
please  upon  them.  Their  hearts  are  like 
melted  wax,  and  readily  run  into  the  moulds 
you  make  for  them.  “  Tell  me,”  a  person 
once  exclaimed,  “  what  a  man  is,  and  I  will 
tell  you  what  his  mother  was.” 

Now  if  it  has  been  made  evident  that 
your  child  obtains  its  earliest,  strongest  and 
most  lasting  impressions  from  you ;  if  it  is 
clear  that  the  impressions  you  make  during 
the  first  four  years  of  its  life  will,  in  a  most 
important  sense,  determine  its  temporal  aims 
and  shape  its  whole  future  course,  then  the 
conclusion  cannot  be  evaded,  that  you  have 
every  reason  to  believe  you  can,  by  the  help 
of  your  covenant-keeping  God  and  Redeem¬ 
er,  give  the  mind  of  your  infant  son  a  direc¬ 
tion  towards  the  Gospel  ministry.  God  has 
determined  to  have  a  ministry.  He  has  left 
means,  which  will  secure  this  end,  if  pro¬ 
perly  used ;  and  these  means  he  has  in 
no  small  degree  committed  to  you.  From 
this  it  follows  that  God  intends  that  you 


16 


AN  APPEAL 


shall  be  instruments  in  establishing  his 
purposes. 

Let  me  turn  you  to  one  or  two  facts. 
Years  ago  there  was  a  missionary  meeting 
held  in  one  of  our  Eastern  States.  Strong  ap¬ 
peals  were  made.  Hearts  thrilled  and  burn¬ 
ed  with  love  for  a  perishing  world.  Money 
poured  in.  There  was  one  man  and  woman 
there,  who  were  poor,  but  the  spirit  of  Christ 
was  not  lacking  in  them.  So  they  took  in  their 
arms  their  infant  son  and  trod  slowly  up  to 
the  altar  and  dedicated  him  to  God,  to  be 
employed,  if  such  should  be  his  pleasure,  in 
the  missionary  work.  The  child  nurtured  by 
these  parents  imbibed  their  spirit  and  be¬ 
came  a  missionary  of  the  cross. 

There  was  a  devoted  woman  in  England 
who  had  a  son.  She  was  accustomed  to  take 
him  with  her  into  her  closet  and  pray  with 
him  when  he  was  four  years  of  age  or  be¬ 
fore,  and  when  she  thus  prayed  she  put  her 
hand  upon  his  head.  The  boy  became  a 
reckless  young  man,  yet  in  all  his  reckless¬ 
ness  he  never  forgot  the  soft  hand  of  his 
mother  resting  upon  him  as  he  knelt  with 
her  before  the  throne  of  grace.  That  man 
died  in  the  beauty  of  holiness,  with  many 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


j  7 


souls  as  the  seals  of  his  ministry.  This  was 
the  Rev.  John  Newton. 

I  know  a  mother  who  has  eight  sons,  and 
who  is  not  aware,  as  she  once  told  me,  that 
a  day  ever  passes  in  which  she  does  not 
pray  for  each  of  these  sons  by  name,  that 
they  may  become  ministers  of  the  Gospel. 
One  of  these  sons  has  recently  entered  the 
ministry.  Three  others  are  preparing  for  this 
same  work. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

Miseries  of  the  Heathen. 

There  are  various  motives  which  should 
induce  you  to  go  forward  in  the  good  work 
to  which  your  attention  has  been  directed. 

1.  Consider  the  woes  and  wants  of  the  hea¬ 
then.  Look  over  into  those  doleful  lands 
where  the  prince  of  darkness  rules  with  de¬ 
solating  sway.  They  are  the  border  grounds 
of  hell.  Millions  live  and  die  there  under  the 
thraldom  of  evil  spirits.  Look  at  their  moral 
degradation  as  well  as  at  their  other  miseries. 


18 


AN  APPEAL 


It  has  been  said  that  the  Hindoos  are  a 
virtuous  people.  “  Alas  !  how  should  virtue 
exist  in  a  nation  whose  sacred  writings  en 
courage  falsehood,  revenge  and  impurity— 
whose  gods  were  monsters  of  vice — to  whose 
sages  are  attributed  the  most  brutal  indul¬ 
gences  in  cruelty,  revenge,  lust  and  pride — 
whose  priests  endeavor  to  copy  these  abo¬ 
minable  examples,  and  whose  institutions 
are  the  very  hotbeds  of  impurity.” 

In  vain  will  you  seek  to  find  virtue  among 
the  heathen  in  India.  In  the  place  thereof 
you  will  find  every  crime  mentioned  by  the 
apostle  Paul  in  the  latter  part  of  the  first 
chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans  ;  and,  I 
was  almost  ready  to  say,  crimes  of  so  black 
a  nature  that  the  Holy  Ghost  would  not  al¬ 
low  him  to  pen  them.  Indeed,  were  what  I 
know  of  the  abominations  of  the  heathen 
written  in  the  Bible,  that  book  could  never 
be  opened  again  and  read.  I  never  saw  a 
man  in  India  whose  word  I  would  be  willing 
to  trust.  In  defence  of  a  cause  in  a  court  of 
justice  they  will  swear  falsely,  in  a  most 
shocking  manner,  so  that  a  judge  never 
knows  when  he  may  safely  believe  a  Hindoo 
witness.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  courts  of 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


19 


justice  are  infested  by  a  set  of  men  termed 
four-annas-men,  (four  annas  are  equal  to 
about  twelve  and  a  half  cents,)  who  for  so 
paltry  a  sum  are  willing  to  make  oath  to  any 
thing,  however  false.  Sir  William  Jones,  after, 
a  residence  of  twenty  years  in  India,  testi¬ 
fied  that  he  never  knew  a  Hindoo  who  would 
not  perjure  himself  for  money.  If  deceit,  dis¬ 
honesty,  filthiness  of  conversation,  adultery, 
fornication,  discord,  hatred,  abuse,  slanders, 
injuries,  litigations,  can  degrade  a  people, 
then  the  Hindoos  have  sunk  to  the  lowest 
mark  in  the  scale  of  human  depravity.  Oh  I 
could  tell  you  such  a  tale  in  illustration  of 
this  point  as  would  make  the  ears  of  every 
one  of  you  to  tingle.  But  I  must  forbear. 
The  recital  would  be  too  appalling. 

“  The  impurity  of  the  conversation  and 
manners  of  the  Hindoos,”  says  Mr.  Ward, 
one  of  the  late  missionaries  at  Serampore, 
“is  so  much  dreaded  by  Europeans,  that 
they  tremble  for  the  morals  of  their  children, 
and  consider  their  removal  to  Europe,  how¬ 
ever  painful  such  a  separation  may  be  to  the 
mind  of  the  parent,  as  absolutely  necessary 
to  prevent  their  ruin.  In  the  capacity  of  a 
servant,  the  wife  of  an  English  soldier  is 


20 


AN  APFEAL 


considered  as  an  angel  when  compared  with 
a  native  woman.”  We  no  more  think  of  al¬ 
lowing  our  children  to  associate  with  the  na¬ 
tives  in  common,  than  we  would  think  of  turn¬ 
ing  them  into  a  den  of  lions,  and  bears,  and 
tigers.  “The  deliberate  malice,  the  false¬ 
hood,  the  calumnies  and  the  avowed  enmity 
with  which  the  people  pursue  each  other, 
and  sometimes  from  father  to  son,  offer  a 
very  mortifying  view  of  the  human  charac¬ 
ter.  No  stranger  can  sit  down  among  them 
without  being  struck  with  this  temper  of  ma¬ 
levolent  contention  and  animosity  as  a  pro¬ 
minent  feature  in  the  character  of  this  peo¬ 
ple.  It  is  seen  in  every  village.  The  inhabi¬ 
tants  live  with  each  other  in  a  sort  of  repul¬ 
sive  state;  nay,  the  spirit  of  contention  en¬ 
ters  into  almost  every  family.  Seldom  is 
there  a  household  without  its  internal  divi¬ 
sions  and  lasting  animosities.” 

Private  murder  is  practised  to  a  dreadful 
extent,  especially  in  the  houses  of  the  rich, 
where  detection  is  almost  impossible.  Infan¬ 
ticide  is  a  thing  of  very  frequent  occurrence. 
The  relation  of  a  single  fact  on  this  point 
must  suffice.  In  the  province  of  Mulwa, 
where  this  crime  is  common,  a  gentleman, 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


21 


who  was  some  time  since  engaged  in  politi¬ 
cal  investigations  there,  discovered  in  one 
village  that  while  there  were  forty-two  male 
children  not  a  single  girl  was  to  be  found. 
They  had  all  been  slaughtered  almost  as 
soon  as  they  were  born. 

Let  me  point  you  to  a  few  of  the  scenes 
which  are  witnessed  in  that  Eastern  World, 
in  order  that  you  may  be  more  fully  convin¬ 
ced  of  the  misery  which  reigns  there. 

1.  The  great  temple  of  Juggernaut  at  Orissa. 
Every  year  more  than  a  million  of  persons 
visit  this  celebrated  spot,  there  to  pay 
homage  to  a  rough  hewn  block  with  a  din- 
gy  visage  and  a  bloody  mouth.  The  roads 
thither,  for  fifty  miles  around,  are  skirted  by 
the  bleached  bones  of  the  pilgrims  who  have 
died  by  the  way-side.  Look  at  one  of  their 
horrid  festivals  :  infuriated  men  catch  the 
long  ropes  and  drag  the  ponderous  car  of 
the  idol  through  the  deep  sand.  On  it  rolls, 
like  a  fiend-drawn  chariot.  The  robed  Brah¬ 
mins  sit  perched  in  its  lofty  tiers — ‘the  clang 
of  harsh  instruments,  the  shoutings  of  the 
swarming  throng,  and  the  howls  of  those  de¬ 
votees  who  roll  their  bodies  in  its  track,  or 
throw  themselves  under  its  massive  wheels 


22 


AN  APPEAL 


to  be  crushed  to  death,  give  a  vivid  picture 
of  hell’s  demoniac  host.  It  is  said  that  one 
hundred  and  .fifty  persons  were  once  killed 
near  the  gate  of  the  temple  by  the  tremen¬ 
dous  press  of  the  vast  crowd. 

2.  The  Ganges.  The  river  Ganges  is  said 
to  be  a  goddess.  “  The  sacred  books  of  the 
Hindoos  declare  that  the  sight,  the  name,  or 
the  touch  of  this  river  takes  away  all  sin.  In 
prospect  of  dissolution,  its  waters  are  fraught 
with  peculiar  efficacy  in  washing  away  the 
stains  of  sin.  To  think  intensely  on  the  Gan¬ 
ges  at  the  hour  of  death,  should  the  person 
be  far  distant,  will  not  fail  of  a  due  reward. 
To  die  in  the  full  view  of  it  is  pronounced 
most  holy.  To  die  on  the  margin,  in  its  im¬ 
mediate  presence,  is  still  holier  ;  but  to  die 
partly  immersed  in  the  stream,  besmeared 
with  its  sacred  mud,  and  imbibing  its  puri¬ 
fying  waters,  holiest  of  all.  If  distance  inter¬ 
pose  a  barrier,  the  preservation  of  a  single 
bone,  for  the  purpose  of  committing  it  at 
some  future  time  to  the  Ganges,  is  believed 
•to  contribute  essentially  to  the  salvation  of 
the  deceased. 

“  Were  you  standing  on  the  banks  of  this 
river,  you  might  in  one  place  see  two  or 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


23 


three  young  men  roughly  carrying  a  sickly 
female  towards  it.  If  you  were  to  ask  them 
what  they  are  going  to  do  with  her,  perhaps 
they  would  reply,  we  are  going  to  give  her 
up  to  Gunga,  to  purify  her  soul,  that  she  may 
go  to  heaven  ;  for  she  is  our  mother.  In  an¬ 
other  place  you  might  see  a  person  seated 
in  the  water  accompanied  by  a  priest,  who 
pours  mud  and  water  down  his  throat,  cry¬ 
ing  out,  O  mother  Gunga,  receive  his  soul. 
The  dying  man  may  be  roused  to  sensibility 
by  the  violence.  He  may  implore  his  priest 
to  desist.  But  his  entreaties  are  drowned. 
He  perseveres  in  filling  his  mouth  with  this 
mud  and  water,  until  he  gradually  expires, 
stifled,  suffocated,  murdered  in  the  name  of 
humanity — in  the  name  of  religion.” 

In  another  place  you  might  see  a  man  de¬ 
scending  from  a  boat  into  the  river,  with 
water-pans  suspended  to  his  neck ;  which 
water-pans  when  filled  will  drag  him  down 
to  the  bottom,  so  as  to  be  seen  no  more  for 
ever.  There  is  murder  again  in  the  name  of 
religion.  He  is  a  devotee,  and  has  purcha 
sed  heaven,  as  he  supposes,  by  this  his  last 
and  greatest  good  deed.  You  might  then  fol¬ 
low  the  carcasses  which  are  ever  floating 


24 


AN  APPEAL 


down  the  current  of  this  great  water  ceme¬ 
tery,  until  your  eye  should  rest  upon  the 
island  which  lies  at  its  mouth.  It  is  Saugor 
island.  In  1837  there  were  more  than  60,000 
boats  abreast  of  its  most  holy  landing-place ; 
and  it  was  supposed  that  there  were  300,000 
pilgrims  there.  This  is  the  island  where 
hundreds  of  mothers  were  accustomed  to 
hurl  their  infants  to  be  devoured  by  croco¬ 
diles,  until  prevented  by  British  bayonets. 

There  is  one  circumstance  connected  with 
the  river  Ganges  which  I  would  not  fail  to 
mention.  “When  any  person,”  says  Cap¬ 
tain  Williamson,  “  has  been  taken  to  the 
side  of  the  Ganges,  or  other  substituted 
waters,  under  the  supposition  that  he  is 
dying,  he  is,  in  the  eye  of  the  Hindoo  law, 
dead.  His  property  passes  to  his  next  heir, 
according  to  his  bequest,  and  in  the  event  of 
recovery — which,  from  a  sudden  rallying  of 
the  vital  powers  or  other  causes,  sometimes 
happens,  especially  in  cases  of  rapid  and 
great  prostration  of  strength — the  poor  fellow 
becomes  an  outcast.  Even  his  own  children 
will  not  eat  with  him  nor  afford  him  the  least 
accommodation.  If  by  chance  they  come  in 
contact,  ablution  must  follow.  The  wretched 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


25 


survivor  from  that  time  is  held  in  abhor¬ 
rence,  and  has  no  other  resort  but  to  asso¬ 
ciate  himself  with  persons  in  similar  circum¬ 
stances.”  He  literally  becomes  a  fugitive 
and  a  vagabond  upon  the  earth. 

3.  Goomsoor.  Look  at  the  horrid  festival 
of  the  Khonds.  See  that  human  victim  fast¬ 
ened  to  a  strong  post,  amid  the  surrounding 
multitude.  There  is  a  strange  fierce  look 
about  that  crowd.  They  are  decked  in  holi¬ 
day  finery,  and  drawn  knives  are  in  their 
hands.  Hear  the  appointed  signal,  and  wit¬ 
ness  the  impetuous  rush  of  the  throng  upon 
that  living  victim,  each  vying  with  his  neigh¬ 
bor  who  shall  gash  out  the  first  piece  from 
the  quivering  body !  This  is  common. 

Captain  Campbell,  of  the  English  service, 
rescued,  on  one  occasion,  no  less  than  one 
hundred  and  three  children,  who  had  either 
been  bought  or  stolen,  and  who  were  des¬ 
tined  to  this  doom.  He  writes  as  follows,  “  I 
have  been  most  fortunate  in  my  late  expe¬ 
dition  among  the  wild  Khonds  of  Goomsoor, 
and  have  rescued  no  less  than  one  hundred 
and  three  children  of  various  ages,  who  were 
intended  for  sacrifice  by  these  barbarians. 
These  children  are  now  at  head  quarters, 

3 


26 


AN  APPEAL 


and  form  a  most  interesting  group,  happy 
(such  as  were  aware  of  their  situation)  in 
having  escaped  the  fate  which  awaited  them. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  British  troops  in 
that  country  a  female  found  her  way  to  the 
Collector’s  camp  with  fetters  on  her  legs. 
She  had  escaped  from  those  who  had  charge 
of  her,  and  related  that  she  had  been  sold 
by  her  own  brother  for  the  purpose  of  being 
sacrificed . 

4.  Let  me  enumerate  some  of  the  penan¬ 
ces  whereby  the  heathen  endeavor  to  propi¬ 
tiate  their  deities,  and  gain  the  adoration  of 
men.  Some  of  the  Fakeers  or  Yogees  (devo¬ 
tees  who  go  about  and  beg  alms)  practice 
most  fearful  austerities  upon  themselves. 
Some  live  in  holes  and  caves ;  some  drag 
around  a  heavy  chain  attached  to  them ; 
some  make  the  circuit  of  an  empire,  creep¬ 
ing  on  their  hands  and  knees;  some  roll  their 
bodies  from  the  shores  of  the  Indus  to  the 
Ganges  ;  some  swing  all  their  life  time  be¬ 
fore  a  slow  fire  ;  some  hold  up  one  or  both 
arms  until  the  muscles  become  rigid  and  the 
limbs  become  shrivelled  into  stumps ;  some 
stretch  themselves  on  beds  of  iron  spikes ; 
some  carry  iron  collars  round  their  necks. 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


27 


See  these  wretched  creatures,  groping  the 
dark  way  to  eternal  death,  without  any 
knowledge  of  Christ,  striving  to  make  atone¬ 
ment  for  their  sins  ;  some  lying  all  day  with 
their  heads  on  the  ground  and  their  feet  in 
the  air ;  some  stuffing  their  eyes  with  mud 
and  their  mouths  with  straw ;  some  lying 
with  pots  of  fire  upon  their  breasts ;  some 
enveloped  in  nets  of  ropes ;  some  stretched 
out  in  ponds  of  water. 

See  some  casting  themselves  down  from 
a  height  upon  iron  spikes  or  bags  of  straw 
with  knives  in  them  ;  some  dancing  on  fire  ; 
some  having  their  sides  or  tongues  perfora¬ 
ted,  and  canes,  swords,  or  living  snakes  put 
through  the  aperture  ;  some  with  their  breast 
and  arms  packed  with  pins  ;  some  sitting  all 
night  by  the  temples  with  lamps,  whose 
pointed  extremities  are  fastened  in  the  flesh 
of  their  foreheads.  See  some  swing  through 
the  air  by  hooks  grappled  in  the  flesh  of 
their  backs ;  some  bind  themselves  to  trees 
until  they  die  ;  some  throw  themselves  from 
precipices  and  are  dashed  to  pieces  ;  some 
bury  themselves  alive  in  graves  which  their 
own  relations  have  dug.  These  facts  and 
these  scenes  to  which  I  have  drawn  your  at- 


28 


AN  APPEAL 


tention,  will  show  you  how  great  are  the 
moral  degradation  and  the  miseries  in  gene¬ 
ral  of  the  heathen  of  India. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Degradation  of  Heathen  Females. 

Having  given  you  a  description  of  the 
miseries  in  general  of  the  heathen,  I  must 
ask  you  to  proceed  one  step  further  and  Look 

at  THE  WRETCHEDNESS  AND  DEPRAVITY  OP 
heathen  FEMALES.  Of  these  I  cannot  draw 
a  more  accurate  picture  than  Paul  has  exhi¬ 
bited  in  the  third  chapter  of  his  Epistle  to 
the  Romans  :  “  There  is  none  righteous,  no 
not  one.  There  is  none  that  understandeth  : 
there  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God.  They 
are  all  gone  out  of  the  way :  they  are  alto¬ 
gether  become  unprofitable.  There  is  none 
that  doeth  good,  no  not  one.  Their  throat  is 
an  open  sepulchre  :  with  their  tongues  they 
have  used  deceit,  the  poison  of  asps  is  under 
their  lips  :  whose  mouth  is  full  of  cursing 
and  bitterness.  Their  feet  are  swift  to  shed 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


29 


blood.  Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their 
ways :  and  the  way  of  peace  have  they  not 
known.  There  is  no  fear  of  God  before 
their  eyes.” 

In  illustrating  this  I  shall  mainly  give  you 
quotations  from  the  natives  of  the  soil.  Per 
haps  in  no  country  is  the  quarrelling  of  fe¬ 
males  carried  to  such  an  extent  as  it  is  in 
India.  Being  held  in  the  most  deplorable 
ignorance  and  slavish  subjection,  they  vent 
their  furious  passions  against  each  other,  and 
indulge  in  the  most  virulent  and  indecent 
railings. 

“  Their  throat  is  indeed  an  open  sepulchre, 
the  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips.”  They 
swear  in  the  most  terrible  manner,  laying 
their  children  down  and  stepping  over  them, 
uttering  at  the  same  time  the  most  filthy  and 
blasphemous  expressions.  Not  only  do  they 
curse  God,  but  they  call  down  his  curses 
upon  themselves  and  their  children.  They 
will  say  as  follows :  “  Make  it  known,  O 
God,  that  the  crime  which  my  accusers  as¬ 
cribe  to  me  is  false  :  if  otherwise,  let  thy 
temple  go  to  ruin,  let  thy  bowels  burst,  let 
thyself  be  destroyed,  and  let  thy  shrine  be 
levelled  to  the  dust.  If  this  accusation  be 

3* 


30 


AN  APPEAL 


true,  let  this  my  child  on  the  ground  die.” 
Paul  has  said  correctly,  “  Their  mouth  is  full 
of  cursing  and  bitterness.” 

Let  us  advance  a  step  farther  in  this  hor¬ 
rid  revelation,  and  see  how  literally  these 
words  of  the  apostle  are  verified  in  their 
case — “  Their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood. 
Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  ways.” 
In  the  province  of  Bengal  alone  it  is  sup¬ 
posed  that  120,000  infants  are  yearly  de¬ 
stroyed  ere  they  have  seen  the  light  of  day. 

It  is  a  common  if  not  invariable  practice 
for  heathen  husbands  to  beat  their  wives. 
On  such  occasions  these  wives  show  their 
revengeful  spirit  in  different  ways.  At  one 
time  they  fly  to  the  temple  of  the  goddess 
Karle — the  goddess  of  vengeance,  who  wears 
two  dead  bodies  for  ear-rings,  who  has  the 
heads  of  giants  whom  she  has  slain  as  a 
girdle  to  her  loins,  and  who  is  said  to  be 
pleased  a  thousand  years  with  the  sacrifice 
of  one  man.  To  her  shrine  they  fly  and  en¬ 
treat  her  to  take  vengeance  on  their  husbands, 
as  I  myself  have  witnessed.  When  abused 
by  their  husbands,  they  sometimes  wTreak 
their  spite  upon  their  poor  children,  kicking 
them  in  a  most  violent  manner.  Sometimes 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


31 


they  starve  themselves  to  death  ;  sometimes 
they  destroy  themselves  by  cutting  their 
throats,  or  swallowing  poison,  or  throwing 
themselves  into  wells. 

“  The  way  of  peace  have  they  not  known.” 
Suicide  is  more  frequent  among  the  women 
than  among  men.  A  number  of  reasons  have 
been  assigned  for  their  committing  this  crime. 
The  first  has  been  already  mentioned,  name¬ 
ly,  the  ill-treatment  they  receive  from  their 
husbands.  Another  is  the  belief  that  if  they 
destroy  themselves 
into  devils,  and  can  take  full  vengeance  upon 
those  who  have  used  them  ill.  The  females 
of  India  are  objects  of  contempt  even  before 
they  are  born.  The  great  reason  why  sons 
are  so  highly  respected  and  daughters  so  de¬ 
graded  is,  that  none  but  the  male  offspring 
of  a  family  can  perform  the  annual  funeral 
rites  to  the  souls  of  their  deceased  ances¬ 
tors  ;  and  according  to  their  conviction  it 
follows  that  all  the  progenitors  of  a  family 
are  cast  into  hell  for  want  of  a  son  among 
their  descendants. 

When  a  female  child  is  born  the  fact  is 
generally  made  known  to  the  relations  most 
nearly  connected  with  the  family,  but  some- 


they  shall  be  changed 


32 


AN  APPEAL 


times  the  news  does  not  go  beyond  the  door¬ 
posts.  The  members  of  the  household  sel¬ 
dom  distribute  sugar  and  beetle-nuts  to  their 
friends,  as  is  done  at  the  birth  of  a  son.  The 
brand  of  shame  is  thus  early  put  upon  the 
tender  infant.  The  mothers  groan  at  the  un¬ 
happy  destiny  to  which  their  daughters  must 
eventually  be  subjected,  and  on  this  account 
spend  many  of  their  leisure  moments  in  me¬ 
lancholy  meditation.  They  are  frequently 
heard  to  say  that  it  would  be  better  if  their 
daughters  were  born  mud  or  clay,  which  the 
potter  shapes  into  cooking  utensils,  than  to 
be  destined  to  become  the  worst  treated 
slaves  in  the  world.  On  the  thirteenth  or 
some  other  convenient  day  a  name  is  given 
to  the  female  child.  It  is  chosen  from  the 
catalogue  of  goddesses  related  to  the  gods 
or  goddesses  whom  the  family  worship.  The 
name  is  seldom  given  with  any  very  splen¬ 
did  ceremonies,  even  among  rich  individu¬ 
als.  The  great  majority  of  the  Hindoos  give 
names  to  their  daughters  without  invitation 
or  ceremony.  The  mother  is  forbidden  to 
address  the  children  by  their  own  names,  if 
they  happen  to  be  the  same  in  sound  with 
the  names  of  their  mothers-in-law,  fathers- 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


in-law,  husbands,  brothers-in-law,  or  other 
relations  of  their  husbands’  houses.  The 
Hindoos  say  that  the  wife  who  pronounces 
the  names  of  these  relations  and  of  her  hus¬ 
band  will  be  doomed  to  everlasting  fire. 

The  education  of  females  is  systemati¬ 
cally  opposed.  With  the  exception  of  those 
women  of  ill-fame  who  are  priestesses  of 
the  temples,  and  whose  business  it  is  to 
sing  the  most  obscene  songs  within  these 
temples,  no  females  are  taught  to  read.  The 
following  are  some  of  the  alleged  objections 
to  their  education. 

1.  Females  ought  not  to  be  educated,  for 
if  the  many  unlettered  men  were  to  have 
educated  females  for  wives  they  would  not 
be  subject  to  them. 

2.  Adultery  is  certainly  to  be  expected 
from  education  given  to  females. 

3.  Custom  is  opposed  to  it. 

4.  Bread  is  not  procurable  by  the  educa¬ 
tion  of  females. 

5.  Education  is  not  required  to  teach  a  fe¬ 
male  how  to  perform  her  duties,  as  it  has 
nothing  to  do  with  cookery. 

6.  If  a  woman  be  educated,  she  will  become 
a  widow,  or  some  other  misfortune  will  follow. 


34 


AN  ArPEAL 


7.  A  wife  is  married  to  a  Hindoo,  not  for 
the  purpose  of  sitting  down  and  conversing 
with  him  on  any  subject,  but  that  she  may 
be  the  confidential  servant  in  domestic 
drudgery. 

S.  A  woman  can  obtain  salvation  even 
without  worshipping  the  gods,  for  a  husband 
is  to  a  wife  greater  than  a  god  :  the  husband 
is  her  god,  and  priest,  and  religion  and  its 
services  :  wherefore  abandoning  every  thing 
else,  she  ought  chiefly  to  worship  her  husband. 

Their  marriages  are  marriages  neither  of 
choice  nor  affection,  and  consequently  are 
prolific  sources  of  misery.  Before  a  girl 
reaches  the  age  of  seven  or  ten  years,  the 
parents  are  bound  to  give  her  in  marriage. 
Both  husbands  and  wives  are  often  dissa¬ 
tisfied  with  the  choice  of  the  parents.  The 
husband  proves  unfaithful  to  the  wife,  and 
she  utters  many  curses  against  her  parents, 
who  married  her  to  such  a  vicious  and  pro¬ 
fligate  husband.  She  grows  hard-hearted 
and  thinks  of  breaking  her  marriage  ties,  or  of 
committing  suicide.  Look  also  at  their  treat¬ 
ment  after  marriage. 

J  After  the  ceremonies  are  performed,  the 
bride  remains  with  her  mother,  or  goes  to 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


35 


her  husband’s  house,  where  she  is  under  the 
control  of  her  mother-in-law.  As  she  is  gene¬ 
rally  very  young,  great  pains  are  taken  in 
teaching  her  how  to  dress  rice,  make  curry, 
&c.  for  if  she  is  not  skilful  in  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  cookery,  her  mother-in-law  kicks 
her,  spits  upon  her,  cuffs  her,  and  beats  her 
with  a  stick  or  any  thing  which  may  be  at 
hand.  The  ill-treatment  which  she  receives 
from  her  mother-in-law  sours  her  mind  to  a 
dreadful  degree  against  her.  She  stores  up 
her  troubles  in  her  heart,  and  waits  with 
patience  to  take  a  double  vengeance  upon 
her  when  opportunity  shall  offer.  To  this 
mijst  be  added  the  manifold  grievances 
which  the  sisters  of  her  husband  inflict  upon 
her.  They  beat  her,  and  torture  her  feelings 
by  heart-rending  rebukes  and  reproachful 
epithets. 

The  relation  of  a  wife  to  a  husband  is  that 
of  a  slave  to  a  tyrant.  She  is  bound  to  be 
entirely  subject  to  him.  She  is  at  the  mercy 
of  his  will.  See  how  the  character,  duties 
and  position  of  heathen  wives  are  defined 
by  Manu,  the  greatest  of  Indian  legislators 
and  philosophers. 

“Women,”  says  he,  “have  no  business 


36 


AN  APPEAL 


with  the  texts  of  the  Veda  or  Sacred  books  : 
having  therefore  no  evidence  of  law  and  no 
knowledge  of  expiatory  texts,  sinful  woman 
must  be  as  foul  as  falsehood  itself.”  Again: 
“  Infidelity,  violence,  deceit,  envy,  extreme 
avariciousness,  a  total  want  of  good  quali¬ 
ties,  with  impurity,  are  the  innate  faults  of 
woman  kind.” 

“  With  regard  to  their  duties,”  he  says, 
“  though  enamored  of  another  woman,  or 
devoid  of  good  qualities,  yet  a  husband  must 
be  constantly  revered  as  a  god  by  a  virtuous 
wife.”  It  would  be  a  difficult  thing  for  some 
of  the  wives  of  the  heathen  to  revere  their 
wicked  and  cruel  husbands,  who,  to  qupte 
again  from  the  native,  “  use  their  wives  in  a 
most  desperate  way,  and  that  at  times  when 
there  is  not  a  particle  of  guilt,  as  if  they  were 
puppets  of  iron,  and  who  ruthlessly  visit 
them  should  they  happen  to  sneeze  or  cough 
in  their  presence.” 

“  Widows,”  says  Manu,  “  can  never  be 
married.”  Dreadful  are  the  consequences 
which  result  from  this  restriction.  Again  this 
lawgiver  says,  “  A  woman  who  has  no  chil¬ 
dren  may  be  cast  off  by  her  husband,  and 
another  taken  in  the  eighth  year  ;  she  whose 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


37 


children  are  all  dead,  in  the  tenth  ;  she  who 
has  daughters  only,  in  the  eleventh  ;  and  she 
who  speaks  unkindly,  without  delay.”  I  will 
mention  a  few  of  the  laws  by  which  women 
are  bound  by  Plindoo  customs. 

1.  A  wife  must  not  sleep  longer  than  her 
husband.  She  must  awake  by  break  of  day, 
and  be  ready  for  his  commands. 

2.  She  must  prepare  her  husband’s  food, 
and  wait  for  his  coming  home  before  she 
can  put  any  thing  into  her  mouth.  Though 
pressed  with  hunger,  she  cannot  eat  until  he 
has  taken  his  food. 

3.  Though  the  husband  abuse,  beat,  or 
cut  the  throat  of  his  wife,  yet  it  is  spoken  of 
as  the  truest  law  for  a  chaste  wife  to  remain 
as  silent  as  a  dead  person. 

4.  At  night  she  must  not  go  to  bed  before 
her  husband. 

5.  A  woman,  whether  old  or  young,  at  the 
sight  of  a  man,  of  whatever  age  he  may  be, 
must  instantly  rise,  if  she  is  sitting. 

In  all  the  wretchedness  I  have  now  been 
describing  the  degraded  females  of  India 
live ;  and  they  die  like  the  beasts  of  the 
field.  Many  of  them  are  destroyed,  as  you 
have  heard,  by  their  own  hands.  Tens  of 

4 


38 


AN  APPEAL 


thousands  have  perished  on  the  funeral  pile, 
and  in  many  parts  of  Hindoostan  they  yet 
continue  to  be  thus  immolated.  To  give  one 
instance.  Not  Ions:  since  the  kin^  of  Edur 
died.  On  the  morning  of  the  burning  of  his 
corpse  no  less  than  fourteen  living  persons 
(of  whom  I  think  five  or  seven  were  queens) 
were  burnt  to  death  with  it  before  all  the 
assembled  population  of  Edur. 

A  few  remarks  on  this  subject  must  close 
the  details  of  misery  which  I  am  relating. 
The  holy  books  of  the  Hindoos  recommend 
voluntary  religious  suicide.  The  following 
is  a  quotation  from  one  of  them.  “  There 
is  no  virtue  greater  than  a  virtuous  wo¬ 
man’s  burning  herself  with  her  husband  ; 
no  other  effectual  duty  is  known  for  virtuous 
women  at  any  time,  after  the  death  of  their 
lords,  than  casting  themselves  into  the  same 
fire.  There  are  35,000,000  of  hairs  on  the 
human  body.  The  woman  who  ascends  the 
pile  with  her  husband  will  remain  so  many 
years  in  heaven.  If  the  husband  be  a  mur¬ 
derer  of  his  own  friend,  the  wife  by  burning 
with  him  purges  away  all  his  sins.” 

Encouraged  by  such  doctrines,  the  wretch¬ 
ed  widow  ascends  the  pile  of  wood  on  which 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


39 


is  stretched  the  corpse  of  her  husband. 
Around  this  pile  stand  the  helpless  children, 
and  for  what?  To  put  out  the  fire  with  their 
tears  ?  No  !  but  in  the  name  of  their  gods  to 
apply  the  torch  which  in  a  few  minutes  is  to 
leave  them  motherless  orphans  in  a  friend¬ 
less  world.  “Can  the  policy  of  hell,”  says 
one,  “  prevail  further  than  this.  Why  is  it 
that  in  circumstances  so  powerfully  calcula¬ 
ted  to  summon  forth  all  the  tenderness  and 
sympathy  of  a  mother’s  heart,  we  behold 
the  unhappy  creature  pillowed  on  putres¬ 
cence  and  ashes,  curtained  with  blazing 
flames,  and  overcanopied  with  volumes  of 
smoke?”  Ah !  Christian  mothers,  it  is  because 
the  religion  of  Jesus  has  never  reached  her 
heart*  This  is  the  way  by  which  she  believes 
she  is  to  obtain  heaven. 

I  have  thus  exhibited  to  you  a  picture  of 
female  existence  in  India.  There  is  not  a 
bright  color  nor  a  beautiful  shading  in  this 
picture.  You  have  followed  me  as  1  have  re¬ 
hearsed  the  woes  of  your  own  sex.  You  nave 
seen  that  from  before  their  birth  to  the  hour 
of  their  death  their  life  is  a  life  of  shame,  and 
contempt,  and  sorrowful  treatment,  enough 
to  break  the  heart  of  a  Christian  mother. 


40 


AN  APPEAL 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Condition  of  Christian  Females  contrasted  with  that  oj 

the  Heathen . 

Are  you  pained  and  wearied  with  the 
mournful  picture  of  wretchedness  which  has 
just  been  drawn  ?  I  am  glad  if  you  are,  for 
I  desire  now  to  turn  your  attention  to  a 
BRIGHT  CHAPTER  OF  BLESSINGS.  I  allude  tO 

your  station,  and  your  history,  from  the  time 
that  a  Christian  mother  rocked  your  cradle, 
while  she  lulled  your  wakefulness  with  some 
sweet  song  of  Zion.  Look  back  a  moment 
and  let  your  past  life  unroll  itself  to  your 
scrutiny.  Stern  looks  did  not  greet  your  en¬ 
trance  into  this  world.  You  were  not  shun¬ 
ned  as  a  painful  appendage  to  the  house¬ 
hold  circle,  nor  visited  with  cold  neglect. 
No.  Kind  hands  fondled  your  tender  form. 
Many  eyes  glistened  at  the  sight  of  you, 
and  affection  exhausted  itself  in  contriving 
for  your  comfort.  You  were  watched  and 
cherished  with  unvarying  tenderness.  Your 
birth  was  not  hid  as  a  disgraceful  thing.  It. 
was  told  with  joy.  Complacent  smiles  sat 
upon  parental  lips  as  they  spake  of  you. 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


41 


There  was  no  line  of  demarcation  between 
you  and  your  brothers.  No  superstitious  par¬ 
tialities  hedged  you  about  with  a  wall  of 
shame.  No  Cain’s  mark  was  put  upon  your 
brow.  No  mother  wept  away  her  lonely 
hours,  grieving  that  she  had  given  birth  to  a 
daughter — -to  you.  No  !  You  were  born  under 
the  shadow  of  the  blessed  Gospel — and  you 
were  welcomed  with  much  gladness,  and 
guarded  with  deep  solicitude  and  sleepless 
assiduity.  And  as  you  grew  in  stature,  and 
passed  on  through  the  changing  scenes  of 
childhood,  blessed  influences  sprang  up 
around  your  path  to  form  your  character  in 
accordance  with  pure  and  elevating  stand¬ 
ards.  Your  home  was  not  a  den  of  pollution, 
where  the  very  air,  burdened  with  impuri¬ 
ties,  communicated  its  foul  taint  to  your  sus¬ 
ceptible  heart.  Your  mother  was  no  quarrel¬ 
some,  swearing  virago,  to  nurture  you  into  a 
wretched  conformity  to  herself. 

No  !  Maternal  example  shone  around  you 
like  a  light  from  heaven.  Its  brightness  and 

O  O 

purity  beamed  across  your  young  heart 
with  softening,  purifying  influence.  As  the 
Almighty  Spirit  brooded  over  the  unformed 
earth  and  fashioned  its  chaotic  materials 

4* 


42 


AN  APPEAL 


into  a  world  of  beauty,  so  your  mother's 
spirit  brooded  over  your  heart  when  it  was 
as  yet  “  without  form  and  void,”  and  so 
moulded  its  elements  that  your  character 
became  full  of  sweet  harmonies.  How  bless¬ 
ed  were  the  days  of  your  infancy  !  And 
when  you  became  older,  you  were  not  shut 
out  from  an  education.  There  was  no  flaming 
sword  at  the  gate  of  this  Eden,  turning  every 
way  to  keep  you  from  the  walks  of  learning. 
You  were  not  trained  under  the  workings  of 
a  religious  S}'Stem  which  proclaims  you  to 
be  an  unworthy  and  dangerous  subject  of 
intellectual  culture.  The  arrangements  of 
your  early  life  were  not  so  adjusted  by 
others  as  to  shroud  you  in  midnight  igno.- 
rance  and  give  cultivation  only  to  the  pas¬ 
sionate  parts  of  your  nature.  Oh  no !  Every 
thing  was  done  to  furnish  each  chamber  and 
recess  of  your  mind  with  useful  knowledge. 

And  you  were  not  betrothed  in  infancy  to 
one  whom  you  had  never  seen,  and  married 
to  one  whom  you  did  not  love.  You  enjoyed 
the  high  and  excellent  privilege  of  personal 
choice,  and  were  wedded  to  one  who  had 
gained  your  affections  by  his  worthiness  and 
love.  No  cruel  mother-in-law  was  enthroned 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


43 


over  you  in  your  husband’s  house,  to  rule 
you  with  a  rod  of  iron,  to  spit  in  your  face 
while  you  were  yet  a  young  bride,  and  beat 
you  with  merciless  passion.  Your  husband’s 
house  was  your  house,  and  home,  and  gov¬ 
erning  sphere.  The  keys  and  the  sway  were 
given  to  you.  And  your  husband  was  not  a 
tyrant  who  gloried  in  trampling  you  under 
his  feet,  and  made  you  the  convenient  ob¬ 
ject  upon  which  to  vent  his  fierceness,  so  as 
to  visit  you  ferociously  if  you  did  but  sneeze 
or  cough  in  his  presence. 

Oh  no  !  What  endearing  courtesies  have 
you  constantly  received  instead  of  such 
heart-rending  treatment!  Your  duties  were 
never  defined  to  be  those  of  an  abject  and 
degraded  slave,  nor  your  husband  placed 
before  you  in  the  attitude  of  a  god.  Your 
place  has  been  in  his  heart,  and  not  at  his 
feet.  You  were  never  goaded  to  despair 
and  suicide  by  the  cruel  and  systematized 
oppression  of  himself  and  his  relations,  or 
maddened  to  a  wild  and  fearful  revenge 
upon  them. 

Your  lines  have  fallen  in  pleasant  places, 
your  heritage  is  in  a  goodly  land,  a  land 
gladdened  with  the  disenthralling  influences 


44 


AN  APPEAL 


of  the  Gospel  of  peace  and  joy.  Your  station 
in  society  is  an  honorable  one.  There  is  no 
Manu  among  Christian  legislators  to  stamp 
the  character  of  your  sex  with  ignominy, 
and  associate  the  idea  of  woman  with  every 
thing  that  is  foul  and  despicable.  There  is 
in  this  free  land  no  legislation  that  aims  to 
degrade  you  and  set  you  forth  in  the  eyes  of 
men  as  basely  inferior  to  them.  You  occupy 
an  honorable  position.  High  esteem  is  set 
upon  you.  The  gentlest  courtesies  are  ren¬ 
dered  to  you  as  your  right.  The  hardened 
wretch  lowers  his  tone  till  it  savors  of 
blandness,  if  he  speaks  to  you.  If  you  travel 
through  the  land,  acts  of  kindness  and  pre¬ 
ference  will  be  shown  to  you  at  every  step. 
Public  opinion  frowns  on  the  man  who  can 
treat  a  woman  cruelly.  You  give  character 
to  the  circle,  in  which  you  move,  and  men  ac¬ 
commodate  themselves  much  to  your  stand¬ 
ards.  The  softest  and  sweetest  words  are 
spoken  to  you.  Man,  iron-handed  man, 
fashions  himself  to  a  gentle  bearing  in  Amur 
presence,  and  the  lion-hearted  learn  to  act  as 
lambs.  Truly  your  station  is  honorable  and 
your  privileges  are  great.  The  hours  of 
your  gladsome  infancy,  the  sunny  bridal 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


45 


days,  comforts,  anti  joys  of  your  matronly 
life,  all  testify  that  your  position  has  been 
and  is  replete  with  blessings. 

As  you  review  these  things,  Christian 
mothers,  remember  that  you  are  indebted  to 
Christ  for  them.  It  is  the  law  of  Christ  that 
distinguishes  your  condition  so  greatly  from 
the  condition  of  Hindoo  women.  You  are 
under  especial  obligations  to  the  Redeemer. 
Wherever  he  is  not  worshipped  females 
are  degraded  and  oppressed  with  a  despot¬ 
ism  fierce  and  unrelenting.  Wherever  he  is 
obeyed  and  loved,  there  you  are  loved  and 
honored.  Every  thing  around  you  is  a  wit¬ 
ness  to  the  truth  of  this.  Every  thing  that 
makes  you  to  differ  from  heathen  mothers 
proves  it. 

Go  to  Gethsemane  and  Calvary,  and  see 
the  Almighty  Savior  bowed  beneath  the 
burden  of  unutterable  agony.  With  his  own 
blood  he  purchased  for  you  these  earthly 
benefits,  and  hitherto  I  have  mainly  had 
these  in  view ;  but  stop  here  a  moment  and 
think  that  Christ  not  only  gives  you  these 
temporal  blessings,  but  also  redemption  from 
eternal  wo.  Think  of  the  precious  hopes  of 
salvation  which  illumine  the  way  of  your 


46 


AN  APPEAL 


pilgrimage.  Think  of  the  holy  consolations 
that  sustain  you  in  hours  of  trial.  Oh  think 
of  the  heaven  towards  which  you  are  jour¬ 
neying  ;  and  from  these  heights  of  earthly 
and  heavenly  felicity  on  which  you  stand, 
look  down,  I  beseech  you,  into  those  depths 
of  degradation  whieh  I  have  described. 
There  lie  many  benighted  and  languishing 
spirits,  groaning  over  their  own  earthly 
wretchedness,  and  shut  out  from  one  com¬ 
forting  ray  of  a  joyful  rest  beyond  the  grave. 

And  remember,  oh  remember !  that  these 
depraved  mothers  will  give  shape  to  all  the 
unborn  millions  who  shall  swarm  upon  that 
soil,  so  long  as  they  are  under  the  degraded 
religion  which  makes  them  what  they  are. 
Let  me  entreat  you  to  look  forward  and  try 
to  conceive  of  the  abominations  and  miseries 
which  are  to  make  India,  and  I  would  add 
all  that  Eastern  world,  accursed,  until  the 
latest  generation  shall  have  passed  from 
their  beautiful  shores  into  hell,  unless  the 
religion  which  makes  these  mothers  a  chan¬ 
nel  of  pollution  and  wretchedness  is  broken 
from  off  their  necks,  and  they  be  set  free 
with  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  maketh 
free. 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


47 


Oh  the  Gospel,  the  glorious  Gospel.  What 
transforming  powers  does  it  possess !  Yes, 
for  by  it  those  heathen  mothers  who  are  now 
a  torment  to  themselves,  a  curse  to  their 
posterity,  and  a  dishonor  to  Jehovah,  who 
are  now  training  their  offspring  for  endless 
misery,  can  be  made  a  glory  and  delight 
unto  Christ.  Those  heathen  mothers,  now 
sunk  in  the  depths  of  degradation,  with 
hearts  bruised  and  bowed  down  by  constant 
and  systematized  tyrann}^,  and  with  minds 
darkened  by  benighted  superstition,  can  be 
restored  to  their  right  position,  and  be  made 
a  blessing  in  all  their  relations.  Those  hea- 
then  mothers  now  in  ignorance  and*  dark¬ 
ness,  living  in  misery  and  hastening  on  to 
the  realms  of  eternal  wretchedness,  who 
stand  even  now  on  the  confines  of  hell,  and 
manifest  in  their  conduct  the  temper  of  the 
spirits  that  dwell  in  that  fathomless  pit,  can 
be  reclaimed  by  the  omnipotent  and  saving 
influence  of  the  glorious  Gospel.  Yes,  and 
every  family  may,  by  it,  become  a  minia¬ 
ture  of  the  church  of  God.  Every  husband 
may  be  like  the  bridegroom  Christ,  and 
every  wife  like  the  Lamb’s  bride,  the  church. 
Their  sons  may  become  as  plants  grown  up 


48 


AN  AT PEAL 


in  their  youth,  and  their  daughters  as  corner 
stones  polished  after  the  similitude  of  a  pa¬ 
lace.  But  alas !  there  are  none  to  carry  this 
Gospel  to  them ;  none  who  will  go  and 
preach  salvation  on  every  mountain  of  sin, 
and  tell  the  wondrous  story  of  a  crucified 
Redeemer  in  every  valley  and  by  the  banks 
of  every  stream. 

Christian  mothers,  do  you  care  for  the 
temporal  comfort  of  the  heathen  ?  Have  you 
any  compassion  for  their  perishing  souls  ? 
Have  you  any  gratitude  to  the  Son  of  God, 
who  has  so  abundantly  blessed  you?  Have 
you  any  desire  to  honor  him,  any  delight  in 
his  glory,  any  burnings  of  heart  to  carry  out 
the  great  purpose  of  his  death]  Then  I  be¬ 
seech  you,  by  each  and  all  of  these  conside¬ 
rations,  to  train  your  sons  for  Christ ;  to  edu¬ 
cate  them  from  infancy  for  him  ;  for  minis¬ 
ters  or  missionaries,  as  he  shall  call  them  to 
his  service. 

What  an  enterprise  is  here  for  you  !  Look 
not  upon  it  coldly,  for  it  is  blessed.  I  call 
on  you  to  arise  and  gird  up  yourselvesTor 
this  work.  I  call  upon  you  to  use  your  ut¬ 
most  endeavors  to  impress  the  hearts  of 
vour  infant  sons  during  the  first  four  or  five 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


49 


years  of  their  lives,  with  such  truths  as  will 
ultimately,  through  God’s  grace,  make  them 
fountains  of  joy  to  distant  and  heathen  lands. 
Oh  !  it  is  no  time-service  that  I  ask  of  you. 
It  is  labor  that  shall  garnish  the  throne  o 
God  with  bright  jewels,  even  redeemed 
souls.  It  is  labor  that  shall  polish  the  crown 
of  Christ  and  make  it  resplendent  with  gems 
dug  from  heathen  mines,  and  cleansed  from 
heathenish  stains.  It  is  labor  that  shall  swell 
into  a  louder  shout  that  anthem  of  redemp¬ 
tion  which  at  the  last  day  shall  echo  among 
the  vaulted  roofs  of  the  upper  temple.  I  call 
on  you  to  furnish  soldiery  for  Immanuel,  as 
he  urges  his  legions  on  to  the  great  battle¬ 
grounds  of  paganism  and  holiness.  I  ask 
your  sons  for  God’s  honor,  for  Jehovah’s 
glory.  I  ask  you  to  do  all  in  your  power  to 
save  them  from  worldly  lives,  and  devote 
them  to  the  cause  of  the  glorious  Redeemer. 

Reproach  has  been  gathering  for  ages  on 
the  name  of  Christ.  The  church  has  not 
obeyed  her  Lord.  She  has  lived  in  disobe¬ 
dience  to  her  living  head.  Here  is  an  oppor 
tunity  for  you  to  wipe  away  this  accumu¬ 
lated  reproach,  by  laying,  through  grace,  the 
foundations  of  a  missionary  church  in  the 


50 


AN  APPEAL 


cradles  of  your  nurseries.  Here  is  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  you  to  be  preaching  the  Gospel 
through  the  lips  of  your  own  offspring,  even 
when  you  stand  on  the  battlements  of  hea¬ 
ven  and  look  down  upon  this  earth  to  see 
how  goeth  the  contest  between  hell  and  the 
Lord  of  Hosts.  Oh  !  will  you  not  consecrate 
your  children  to  this  work  ?  Would  you  have 
one  harp  in  heaven  unstrung  for  the  want 
of  such  a  consecration  ? 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Means  to  be  used  by  Christian  Mothers. 

Let  me  now  give  an  answer  to  the  ques? 
tion  which  I  hope  has  arisen,  “  How 
shall  I  do  this  work  ?”  I  will  make  some 
remarks  which  may  form  a  connected  an¬ 
swer  to  this  inquiry.  And, 

1.  Dedicate  your  new-born  son  to  God. — 
Make  an  honest  and  entire  consecration  of 
him,  and  let  him  be  ever  to  you  as  a  sacred 
vessel  for  God’s  sanctuary,  which  may  not 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


51 


lje  put  to  a  profane  use  without  provoking 
Divine  judgement.  Say  as  Hannah  did,  with 
weeping  heart,  “  I  will  give  him  unto  the 
Lord  all  the  days  of  his  life.  As  long  as  he 
liveth  he  shall  be  lent  to  the  Lord.”  I  would 
that  there  were  more  such  mothers  as  was 
Hannah,  who  would  dedicate  their  children, 
if  sons,  to  the  sanctuary  of  God  even  before 
their  birth.  I  do  believe  that  if  the  church 
abounded  with  such  mothers  there  would 
not  be  so  many  tears  shed  over  ungodly 
sons  as  we  are  now  obliged  to  witness. 

2.  Pray  that  your  son  may  he  led  by  God's 
Spirit  into  the  ministry.  Let  this  be  the  ear¬ 
nest  desire  of  your  heart.  Plead  at  the 
throne  of  grace,  that  this  petition  may  be 
offered  in  heaven’s  courts  before  the  Father 
by  the  great  Intercessor.  Day  after  day  and 
year  after  year,  let  this  supplication  be  re¬ 
corded  in  the  book  of  Divine  remembrance. 
Show  that  this  is  the  main  anxiety  of  your 
soul  for  your  son,  that  he  may  be  a  watch¬ 
man  on  somfe  watch-tower  of  Redemption 
erected  amid  pagan  or  other  desolations. 
You  may  have  power  with  God  and  prevail. 
He  will  hear  persevering  prayer.  Then  ne¬ 
ver  be  faint  nor  be  weary,  but  with  the  same 


52 


AN  APPEAL 


purpose  in  view,  untiringly  at  God’s  feet, 
press  your  suit  and  plead  his  gracious  pro¬ 
mises  until  the  desire  of  your  heart  is  ful¬ 
filled,  even  with  a  crown  of  rejoicing. 

3.  Begin  to  labor  with  your  child  before  he 
is  four  years  old.  Attention  to  this  is  of  the 
greatest  importance.  Many  mothers  are 
skeptical  respecting  the  formative  power 
and  permanent  influence  of  impressions 
made  so  early.  But  I  have  already  endea¬ 
vored  to  show  the  truth  in  regard  to  this 
subject.  “  Give  me  the  first  five  years  of  a 
child’s  life,”  said  a  celebrated  French  infidel 
philosopher,  “  and  I  will  teach  it  to  break 
every  law  of  God  and  man.”  Give  me  the 
first  five  years  of  my  child’s  life,  you  may 
say,  and  I  will,  through  the  Holy  Spirit, 
make  such  an  impression  upon  his  mind 
that  lie  will  grow  up  with  but  one  thought 
and  one  design,  which  will  be  to  live  and 
labor  for  a  dying  world.  I  have  heard  of  a 
case  in  a  family  where  there  were  two  sons, 
the  one  four  and  the  other  twelve  years  of 
age.  On  the  younger  lad  a  most  vivid  and 
powerful  impression  in  regard  to  the  hea¬ 
then  was  made,  while  the  other  was  un¬ 
moved.  The  ground  was  preoccupied  in  the 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


53 


elder  ;  the  field  was  clear  for  impressions  in 
the  heart  of  the  younger. 

Christian  mothers,  if  you  would  expect 
your  labors  to  be  crowned  with  success,  you 
must  begin  to  instruct  your  sons  in  very 
early  life, — before  they  are  four  years  old. 
Even  before  they  have  learned  to  speak, 
when  the  eye  first  begins  to  beam  with  the 
light  of  awakened  intelligence,  sing  to  them 
low  plaintive  airs  concerning  the  wants  of 
our  own  land  and  of  the  heathen,  as  well  as 
the  sweet  hymns  which  tell  of  salvation  by 
the  blood  of  Christ.  Let  the  first  thing  that 
their  minds  catch  be  something  respecting 
these  wants.  That  first  idea  will  thoroughly 
imbue  the  soul  and  impart  a  savor  which 
later  impressions  cannot  wholly  destroy. 
Christian  mothers,  at  what  age  does  your 
little  boy  know  that  a  penny  will  supply  him 
with  a  toy  ?  At  that  age  you  should  endea¬ 
vor  to  make  him  understand  that  the  only 
remedy  for  the  miseries  of  a  dying  world, 
for  the  perishing  heathen,  is  the  Gospel. 

4.  Let  their  nursery  books  be  of  a  right 
kind.  Furnish  them  with  some  simple  books 
and  periodical  papers  which  direct  their  at¬ 
tention  to  the  wants  of  our  own  land,  as 


54 


AN  APPEAL 


well  as  those  which  show  the  habits  and  cus¬ 
toms  and  religion  of  the  heathen* — books 
and  periodicals,  whose  history  shall  not  only 
delight  and  instruct  their  young  minds,  but 
which  shall  call  out  the  earliest  emotions  ol 
their  souls  and  engage  their  liveliest  sympa¬ 
thies  in  their  behalf.  Choose  those  books, 
which,  in  simple  historical  portraitures,  dis¬ 
play  the  grand  reasons  of  the  world’s 
wretchedness,  and  point  out  the  cross  as 
the  only  remedy  for  its  woes.  You  will  thus 
afford  your  sons  a  fund  of  pleasure  as  great 
as  they  would  drink  in  from  “  Jack  the  giant 
killer,”  and  other  similarly  frivolous  and 
dangerous  books.  You  will  store  their  minds 
with  truth,  instead  of  those  fictions  which 
will  haunt  them  ever  afterwards.  You  will 
strengthen  their  minds  with  substantial  food, 
instead  of  weakening  them  with  airy  and  in¬ 
digestible  fancies.  You  will  make  impres¬ 
sions  which  will  prepare  their  minds  to 
grasp  eagerly  for  missionary  intelligence, 
and  constrain  them  to  become  deeply  enga- 

*  Since  my  return  to  America  I  have  published  a 
small  work  entitled  “  Letters  to  Sabbath-school  Chil¬ 
dren,  on  the  condition  of  the  Heathen.”  It  is  printed  by 
the  American  Sunday-school  Union. 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


55 


god  in  the  cause  of  missions.  Its  progress 
will  become  dear  to  them.  Facts  in  regard 
to  it  will  be  closely  linked  with  all  their  ear¬ 
liest  associations,  and  incorporated  with  their 
thoughts  and  affections,  making  the  mission¬ 
ary  life  appear  desirable  and  blessed. 

5.  Tell  them  stories  which  hear  upon  the  des¬ 
tinies  more  particularly  of  the  heathen  world . 
Store  your  own  mind  with  facts,  and  be 
guided  in  the  selection  of  such  facts  by  these 
two  things,  the  death  of  Christ,  and  the  ruin 
of  earth  by  sin.  Let  them  be  exceedingly 
various  in  their  general  character,  but  let 
them  all  have  some  point  which  shall  clear¬ 
ly  exhibit  these  two  subjects,  or  something 
which  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  them. 
Your  little  boys  will  often  come  with  the  re¬ 
quest,  “  Mamma,  please  to  tell  me  a  story,” 
and  if  you  will  always  have  suitable  stories 
at  hand  to  tell  them,  you  will  find  them  de¬ 
lighted  hearers  ;  and  while  they  are  entirely 
unconscious  of  the  whole  matter,  you  will 
be  planting  in  their  budding,  inquisitive 
minds,  the  two  greatest  ideas  of  which  we 
can  here  form  any  conception,  namely,  that 
they  must  live  for  Christ,  and  live  for  a  dy¬ 
ing  world 


56 


AN  APPEAL 


6.  Teach  them  to  contribute  for  the  support 
of  the  Gospel  at  home  and  among  the  hea¬ 
then.  As  soon  as  they  can  understand  the 
idea  (and  they  will  understand  it  at  a  very 
early  age)  that  money  is  needed  to  spread 
the  Gospel  of  our  Savior,  teach  them  to 
give  it,  and  to  give  it  systematically.  Teach 
them  to  give  it  by  self-denial.  Let  them 
earn  a  penny  as  often  as  they  please,  by 
going  without  some  accustomed  luxury,  or 
what  some  might  call  comfort.  Provide 
them  with  work,  whereby  they  may  gain 
money  for  the  heathen.  Teach  them  to  exer¬ 
cise  their  ingenuity  and  their  industry  in 
order  to  gain  something  for  this  purpose. 
F urnish  them  with  a  missionary-box  to  hold 
their  contributions,  and  so  instruct  them  that 
they  shall  feel  much  happier  in  dropping  a 
penny  into  it,  than  by  spending  it  for  candy 
or  similar  things.  Christian  mothers,  we 
want  children  trained  thus  in  habits  of  giv¬ 
ing,  in  habits  of  denying  self,  in  order  to  fill 
the  Lord’s  treasury.  Would  that  those  Chris¬ 
tians,  who  now  have  a  place  in  our  churches 
and  make  money  in  our  streets,  had  thus 
been  trained.  Then  would  not  schools  in 
heathen  lands  be  disbanded  for  want  of 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


57 


means  to  support  them  ;  nor  would  presses 
be  stopped,  nor  missionaries  at  home  and 
abroad  faint  and  die,  through  overwork. 

7.  Let  them  know  that  they  are  consecrated  to 
God.  Christian  mother,  tell  your  child  after 
you  have  thus  instructed  him,  that  you  have 
vowed  to  the  Lord,  that  if  he  would  qualify 
him  for  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  you 
would  not  only  relinquish  your  right  in  him, 
but  do  all  in  your  power  that  he  may  preach 
among  the  heathen  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ.  Take  him  alone.  Summon  to  your 
aid  all  the  solemnities  of  circumstance  and 
place  that  you  can  :  kneel  with  him  ;  put 
your  hand  upon  his  head,  as  Newton’s  mo¬ 
ther  did,  and  pray  with  him.  Give  him 
away  to  God,  audibly,  in  a  form  of  conse¬ 
cration,  and  then  tell  him  that  vou  have 
thus  consecrated  him  ;  that  you  do  not  con¬ 
sider  him  your  son,  but  God’s ;  and  fre¬ 
quently  admonish  him  of  this  scene.  Endea¬ 
vor  to  impress  him  with  the  thought,  that  as 
you  have  relinquished  all  right  in  him  that 
lie  may  be  devoted  to  this  work,  he  should 
be  willing  to  forsake  all  to  enter  upon  it. 
And  thus  let  this  idea  “  grow  with  his 
growth  and  strengthen  with  his  strength,” 


58 


AN  APPEAL 


that;  his  business  is  a  world’s  salvation.  I 
have  advised  you,  audibly  to  consecrate 
your  sons  to  God,  in  their  presence.  Some 
mothers  may  possibly  be  indisposed  to  in¬ 
struct  their  children  at  the  early  period  just 
mentioned,  from  the  belief  that  they  cannot 
comprehend  the  meaning  of  such  instruction. 
Should  you  be  of  that  number,  you  surely 
cannot  refuse  to  comply  with  one  item  in 
the  request  just  made,  which  is,  that  after 
you  have  consecrated  your  sons  to  God  in 
private,  you  will  take  them  into  your  closets 
and  kneel  with  them  and  pray  audibly  with 
them,  that  they  may  hear  you  while  you 
give  expression  to  the  desire  that  God  will 
make  them  not  only  the  trophies  of  his  grace 
but  heralds  of  the  cross. 

8.  Endeavor  to  kindle  in  the  heart  of  your 
son  the  heroic  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Make  him 
feel  that  of  all  the  enterprises  of  the  present 
day,  the  missionary  enterprise  is  one  of  the 
noblest  which  can  be  undertaken  on  earth. 
Make  it  appear  glorious.  You  have  his  affec¬ 
tions,  and  his  imagination  lights  its  torch  at 
the  altar  fire  which  burns  upon  your  heart. 
Use  a  sanctified  and  chastened  imagination 
in  pourtraying  to  him  the  glorious  results  of 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


59 


this  enterprise.  Catch  the  spirit  of  the  pro¬ 
phet  bard  :  “  The  wolf  also  shall  dwell  with 
the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  shall  lie  down 
with  the  kid,  and  the  calf  and  the  young 
lion  and  the  fading  together,  and  a  little 
child  shall  lead  them,$c.  They  shall  not  hurt 
nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain,  for  the 
earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea.”  Set  be¬ 
fore  him  the  Captain  of  Salvation,  and  the 
glorious  rest  which  is  to  follow  the  warfare ; 
that  his  heart  may  pant  with  the  spirit  of 
the  Gospel,  and  that  he  may  long  to  be  one 
among  Christ’s  soldiers. 

“  We  must  have  mothers  in  France,”  said 
Madam  Campan  to  Bonaparte.  This  single 
remark,  it  is  said,  had  a  magical  influence 
on  the  mind  of  the  emperor.  And  what  did 
he  do  under  the  influence  of  this  thought? 
From  that  moment  he  set  the  mothers  of 
France  to  the  work  of  education,  to  carry 
forward  his  plans.  Mothers  inspired  their 
children  with  a  martial  spirit.  They  put  into 
the  hands  of  their  infant  boys  the  little 
trumpet,  sword,  drum,  and  martial  flag, 
and  chanted  over  their  cradles  the  sweet  War 
monody.  They  embraced  all  possible  oppor- 


60 


AN  APPEAL 


tunities  to  exalt  the  name  of  their  illustrious 
military  conqueror.  Thus  in  a  few  years 
mothers  infused  into  the  minds  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  F ranee  such  a  thirst  for  military  ho¬ 
nor,  that  their  boys  panted  to  be  men,  that 
they  might  enter  the  field  of  military  glory, 
and  serve  their  emperor  and  their  country. 
Truly  our  Lord  has  said,  “  The  children  of 
this  world  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than 
the  children  of  light.”  . 

Christian  mothers,  will  you  not  do  fot 
Christ  what  the  mothers  of  France  did  foi 
Bonaparte  ?  Let  me  entreat  you  thus  to  act. 
Such  action  on  your  part  would,  I  doubt  not, 
often  be  overruled  by  the  Head  of  the  church 
for  the  conversion  of  your  children.  Get 
them  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  miseries 
of  others,  and  they  will  naturally  be  induced 
to  turn  their  attention  to  their  own  miseries. 
Let  me  mention  a  case  or  two  in  point. 

A  clergyman  not  long  since  told  me,  that 
when  he  was  about  five  years  of  age  he  saw 
some  pictures  of  the  Tuscarora  Indians, 
which  had  been  sent  bv  a  ladv  who  had  gone 
as  a  missionary  from  his  native  place.  This 
circumstance  made  an  impression  upon  his 
mind  respecting  missions  which  he  never 


vO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


61 


forgot,  and  he  considers  this  as  one  of  the 
important  means  which  God  made  use  of  for 
his  conversion. 

Another  clergyman  stated,  that  in  his  boy¬ 
hood  a  colored  nurse,  a  pious  methodist,  im¬ 
pressed  it  upon  his  mind  by  her  simple  re¬ 
marks  that  he  was  to  become  a  minister. 
This  impression  never  left  him  even  in  his 
most  sinful  years ;  but  was,  he  believes,  a 
leading  instrumental  cause  of  turning  his 
mind  to  the  subject  of  religion,  and  finally 
of  constraining  him  to  become  a  preacher  of 
the  Gospel. 

An  American  missionary  said,  “  I  recol¬ 
lect  particularly,  that  once  my  mother  came 
and  stood  by  me  as  I  sat  in  the  door,  and 
tenderly  talked  to  me  of  God  and  my  duty 
to  him,  and  her  tears  dropped  upon  my 
head.  That  made  me  a  missionary.” 

9.  Teach  them  to  pray  for  a  perishing  world « 
Never  should  they  bow  their  little  knees  at 
the  throne  of  grace  in  the  morning  and  in 
the  evening,  without  pleading  with  God  for 
this  object.  They  should  also  attend  a  month¬ 
ly  concert  of  prayer.  Many  parents  do  not 
feel  disposed  to  take  their  children  to  the 
monthly  concerts  as  now  established,  be- 

6 


62 


AN  APPEAL 


cause  they  are  held  at  night,  when  they  can 
scarcely  be  kept  awake.  If  this  objection  be 
valid,  then  by  all  means  let  a  monthly  con¬ 
cert  of  prayer  be  established  exclusively  for 
children,  and  let  it  be  held  at  a  season  when 
their  attention  can  be  kept  up.  Perhaps  the 
afternoon  of  the  Sabbath  would  be  the  most 
appropriate  season.  Indeed  I  think  that  such 
a  concert  should  at  all  events  be  established. 
Very  frequently  the  nature  of  the  missiona¬ 
ry  intelligence  communicated  at  our  usual 
monthly  concerts  of  prayer,  and  the  long 
prayers  which  are  offered  are  not  adapted 
to  children.  Prayers  with  children  should 
never  exceed  four  or  five  minutes,  and  the 
missionary  intelligence  should  be  of  the  most 
simple  and  stirring  nature.  The  little  books 
which  have  been  printed  by  our  Sunday- 
school,  Tract  and  other  Societies,  as  well  as 
the  little  monthly  papers  which  are  devoted 
to  the  publication  of  missionary  intelligence, 
will  furnish  ample  means  to  interest  juvenile 
hearers.  Were  I  the  pastor  of  a  church,  it 
would,  I  think,  be  one  of  my  first  objects  to 
establish  such  a  monthly  concert  of  prayer. 
I  can  hardly  think  of  any  meeting  which  it 
would  give  me  so  much  pleasure  to  attend, 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


63 


or  which  would,  with  the  blessing  of  God, 
tell  so  much  upon  the  salvation  of  the  souls 
of  the  children,  as  well  as  upon  the  promo¬ 
tion,  eventually,  of  the  Redeemer’s  king¬ 
dom.  If  you  ever  expect  your  children  to 
become  men  and  women  of  full  stature  in 
prayer,  they  must  he  educated  in  the  missionary 
yrayer-meeting.  Unless  they  are  thus  educa¬ 
ted,  they  will  never  pray  for  the  heathen  as 
they  should  pray  for  them.  They  will  be  no 
better  in  this  respect  than  ourselves.  And  if 
there  be  not  a  much  greater  spirit  of  prayer, 
how  is  this  world  ever  to  be  converted  to 
Christ. 

I  have  said  nothing  to  those  mothers  who 
profess  to  be  Christians,  but  who  are  unwill¬ 
ing  to  have  their  sons  enter  the  ministry  be¬ 
cause  they  may  be  poor,  or  from  some  other 
trivial  reason.  Do  such  mothers  know  what 
they  do?  Have  they  any  desire  that  their 
sons  should  become  converted?  Even  if  they 
have,  I  know  not  what  reason  they  have  to 
hope  (so  far  as  they  are  concerned)  that  this 
will  be  the  case.  They  may  expect  to  weep 
over  ungodly  sons,  and  break  their  hearts 
over  graves  on  whose  tombstones  there  shall 
be  no  record  of  hope. 


64 


AN  APPEAL 


CONCLUSION. 

And  now,  Christian  mothers,  what  more 
shall  I  say  ?  You  are  compassed  about  with 
a  great  cloud  of  witnesses,  looking  upon  you 
to  see  what  you  will  do — to  see  whether  you 
will  bestir  yourselves  in  this  matter  or  not. 
The  church  looks  to  you  with  deep  solici¬ 
tude.  The  church  of  the  coming  genera¬ 
tion  has  its  germs  in  your  families.  You  are 
the  guardians  over  Christ’s  nursery.  Shall 
they  be  plants  standing  like  green  olive-trees 
in  the  house  of  God,  or  shall  they  be  like 
the  present  dwarfish  race  of  Christians. 

The  eyes  of  the  great  Head  of  the  church 
are  placed  upon  you.  He  has  entrusted  to 
you  the  great  means  of  raising  up  ministers 
to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
and  he  looks  to  you  to  see  what  you  will  do. 
And  will  you  not  awake  to  a  sense  of  your 
responsibilities  and  rejoicingly  use  the  in¬ 
strumentalities  which  Christ  hath  committed 
to  your  hands  ? 

Oh !  for  one  brief  moment  suppose  your¬ 
selves  in  the  condition  of  those  wretched 
heathen  for  whose  sake  I  plead.  Suppose 


TO  CHRISTIAN  MOTHERS. 


65 


you  were  in  their  places,  without  God,  and 
without  hope  in  the  world,  and  I  were  plead¬ 
ing  for  you  in  this  little  work  with  many 
prayers  and  tears.  How  would  you  wish 
that  they  should  act  for  you  ?  Say,  Christian 
mothers,  how  would  you  wish  them  to  act 
for  you?  So  act  for  them,  and  act  now.  Ne¬ 
ver  !  Oh  never  was  there  a  class  of  females, 
from  the  days  of  Adam  to  this  time,  who 
were  placed  in  so  responsible  a  situation  as 
you.  Every  act  of  yours  will  tell  upon  the 
destinies  of  souls,  either  for  heaven  or  for 
hell.  It  is  a  solemn  thing  for  you  to  die .  How 
much  more  solemn  and  awful  a  thing  is  it 
for  you  to  live  in  such  a  day  as  this. 


THE  END. 


»x 


7 


' 


’  \ 

>  '  •  .  •  '■>  ‘ 


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a 

THE  CHRISTIAN  LIBRARY, 

Published  by  the  American  Tract  Society.  For  Library • 
Associations,  Schools ,  and  Families.  Containing  45  vo 
lumes  of  430  pages.  Price,  with  case,  $20. 


The  set  embraces  about  20,000  pages,  in  a  fair  type  for  persons  of 
every  age,  with  twenty-four  steel  plates  and  numerous  other  engrav- 
ings,  those  in  volumes  25,  26,  27  being  by  Adams. 


Vol. 

1.  Doddridge’s  Rise  and  Pro¬ 

gress. 

2.  Wilberforce’s  Practical  View 

and  Flavel’s  Touehstone. 

3.  Edwards  on  the  Affections, 

and  Allei  tie’s  Alarm. 

4.  Banyan’s  Pilgrim’s  Progress. 

5.  Baxter’s  Saints’  Rest. 

6.  Baxter’s  Cal!,  Dying  Tho’ts, 

and  Life. 

7.  Memoir  of  Brainerd,  and  Fla- 

vel  cn  Keeping  the  Heart. 

8.  Memoir  of  Henry  Martyn. 

9.  Edwards’  Hist,  of  Redemp¬ 

tion. 

10.  Pike’s  Persuasives  to  Early 

Piety. 

11.  Pike’s  Guide  for  Young  Dis¬ 

ciples. 

32.  Memoir  of  Rev.  Dr.  Payson. 

13.  Ncvins’  Practical  Thoughts, 

and  Thoughts  on  Popery. 

14.  Evidences  of  Christianity.  By 

Jenyns,  Leslie,  Littleton, 
Watson,  and  others. 

15.  Memoir  of  Brainerd  Taylor. 

16.  Memoir  of  Buch  anan,  with  his 

Researches  in  Asia. 

17.  Elijah  the  Tishbite  By  Rev. 

Dr.  Kruinmacher. 

18.  Bogue’s  Evidences  of  Chris¬ 

tianity,  and  Keith’s  Evi¬ 
dence  of  Prophecy. 

19.  Melvill’s Bible  Thoughts;  and 

Foster’s  Appeal  to  the 
Young 


Vol. 

20.  Mammoft,  by  Rev.  J.  Harris) 

and  Henry  on  Meekness. 

21.  James’  Anxious  Inquirer ;  and 

Mason  on  Self-Knowledge. 

22.  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Harriet  L* 

Winslow. 

23.  Memoirs  of  H.  Page,  Rev.  S. 

Kilpin,  and  N.  Smith. 

24.  Abbott’s  Mother  at  Home,  and 

Child  at  Home;  and  N.  W. 
Dickerman. 

25.  Gallaudet's  Scripture  Bio - 

grapliy,  Adam  to  Joseph. 

26.  Do.  do.  Moses. 

27.  Do.  do.  Joshua,  Judges, 

Ruth  and  Samuel. 

28.  Gallaudet’s  Life  of  Josiah ; 

Youth’s  Book  on  Natural 
Theology,  with  26  engrav¬ 
ings  ;  and  Child’s  Book  on 
Repentance. 

29.  Hooker’s  Child’s  Book  on  the 

Sabbath ;  Beecher  on  In¬ 
temperance  ;  and  Mather’s 
Essays  to  do  Good. 

30.  Practical  Piety,  by  Hannah 

More. 

31.  Flavel’s  Fountain  of  Life,  or 

Christ  in  his  Essential  and 
Mediatorial  Glory. 

32.  Abbott’s  Young  Christian. 

33.  Venn’s  Complete  Duty  of 

Man. 

34-45.  Religious  Miscellany  ; 
being  the  General  Scries  of 
Tracts,  to  No.  428. 


